Games aren’t the difference. GOG and Itch are terrible to use. Straight up dumpster fires. That is why no one buys games from them. It’s not complicated.
Epic manages to be an even bigger dumpster fire, who also went out of their way to take away games that had already been advertised, and in a few cases, actually sold for Steam. People actively hate them because they went out of their way to piss in the face of gamers, and also, again, because their platform is dogshit.
Steam’s market share is the best because their platform blows doors off of everything else. You will not make a dent until you actually provide a platform that provides actual function that’s competitive in any way with Steam. Market dominant companies fail all the time, when something better comes along. The competition is shit that’s much, much, much worse.
Being the best product on the market is not what a problematic monopoly is.
A monopoly uses anticompetitive means to suppress competition, then exploits that market share in anti consumer ways. Steam does neither. They’re just better.
A monopoly has the means to engage in anticompetitive practices. Whether or not they do is a separate thing. That’s why you clarified “a problematic monopoly.”
It does matter whether they do. It’s impossible for Epic to have a valid complaint (and the fact that they both throw a tantrum at every company who doesn’t just give them exactly what they want, and actually do behave anticompetitively by using their market position with UE to try to force people onto their fucking disgusting excuse for a store tell you they don’t) unless Steam is abusing their market position to make competition impossible.
“We can’t be bothered competing” is not a valid legal argument.
Games aren’t the difference. GOG and Itch are terrible to use. Straight up dumpster fires. That is why no one buys games from them. It’s not complicated.
Epic manages to be an even bigger dumpster fire, who also went out of their way to take away games that had already been advertised, and in a few cases, actually sold for Steam. People actively hate them because they went out of their way to piss in the face of gamers, and also, again, because their platform is dogshit.
Steam’s market share is the best because their platform blows doors off of everything else. You will not make a dent until you actually provide a platform that provides actual function that’s competitive in any way with Steam. Market dominant companies fail all the time, when something better comes along. The competition is shit that’s much, much, much worse.
Okay.
That’s why Steam has a monopoly.
Steam still has a monopoly.
Being the best product on the market is not what a problematic monopoly is.
A monopoly uses anticompetitive means to suppress competition, then exploits that market share in anti consumer ways. Steam does neither. They’re just better.
A monopoly has the means to engage in anticompetitive practices. Whether or not they do is a separate thing. That’s why you clarified “a problematic monopoly.”
It does matter whether they do. It’s impossible for Epic to have a valid complaint (and the fact that they both throw a tantrum at every company who doesn’t just give them exactly what they want, and actually do behave anticompetitively by using their market position with UE to try to force people onto their fucking disgusting excuse for a store tell you they don’t) unless Steam is abusing their market position to make competition impossible.
“We can’t be bothered competing” is not a valid legal argument.
Having that market position is what defines a monopoly.
Abusing it is a crime that only a monopoly can commit.
Whether they do it or not is not what makes them a monopoly.